Blood Moon
by Shakuhachi Jade
Summary: One wild night at The Friendly Fang leaves Zero with a heavy hangover, and new assignment... Who, or WHAT is she...? Set after series end. SPOILERS. Zero x OC, maybe some Zero x Yuki later. Updates may vary. Title may change. Please enjoy. ON HIATUS.
1. Prologue, Chapter One

_**Warnings:_ _**MAJOR SPOILERS!**__** DO**_ _**NOT**_ read this story unless you have watched all of the Vampire Knight Guilty anime (or don't mind spoilers), because I cover things that happened at the end. This story will have no relation whatsoever to the VK manga, nor any issues that take place after the end of Vampire Knight Guilty. Also, I tend to use small doses of **profanity, violence, **and **sexual situations** throughout my stories, and this one is no exception._ You have been forewarned. _

_**Summary:_ Set after series end. The Friendly Fang – a punny name for a tavern that houses some fangs that are, eh, _not _so friendly... Zero x OC, maybe some Zero x Yuki later. Again, SPOILERS.

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*** . B L O O D **.. :.::** M O O N . ***

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_**Prologue/Chapter One:**_

The Friendly Fang was largely known as an infamous hot spot for tourists in the small city just outside of Cross Academy. The building itself was built like an old-style tavern, inside and out, with a thatched roof; glassless windows; shutters; broad wooden doors; wooden tables; ale, mead, ancient red wine (all overpriced, of course); costumed wenches for servers; and a short, plump, red-faced man for an innkeeper.

Well, he is who the tourists always mistook for the innkeeper, anyway. The _real_ owner of this fine tavern was someone a bit taller, more handsome, alluring, and a _lot _thinner – someone the tourists and regulars rarely ever saw in the common room. His name was Paris, and he was responsible for the clever pun in the tavern's name. A short, fat man would probably name his inn something like "The Boar & Stag" or "Porky's Pub" because all he ever thought about was food; but a vampire… Contrary to popular belief, The Friendly Fang truly _was _the first major landmark of the area, and had thrived on the main street for far longer than Cross Academy had existed.

Paris—named by his mother after the dazzling capital of France, the city of his birth—first moved to what was then only a tiny village in the 1800s. Upon his arrival, the few people who'd inhabited the thick forest already seemed to realize there was something special – something _different_ about him. They greeted him with open arms and swiftly appointed him "mayor" of their small township. Paris instantly knew when he met them that they were ignorant of the existence of vampires. Still, he was as gentle a vampire as they come. He was ultimately grateful that he'd happened upon this village first instead of one of his vicious cousins.

One of the reasons he left his beloved France was because his father cast him out of the vampire aristocracy there. He was twenty in vampire years – barely old enough to attend the banquets – and for weeks he had refused to drink the blood of a human. His father refused to deal with him. "You'll never make it among our ranks with blood that thin," he'd spat on a frigid December night, "You are a disgrace to all Purebloods. Go – make friends with the _humans_, but mark my words, Paris: you will never find peace! You'll live forever just to regret becoming so docile, so _worthless_ in your youth! Now be gone!"

So far he hadn't, though. He was one of the happiest vampires he knew (considering the few other vampires he knew were quite moody and usually had something to bitch about). Paris was considerably wealthy, having established the single most popular attraction in the state, though he chose to conceal this fact from the local vampire nobles. Not many of them even knew of his existence, and he preferred it to be as such.

He had watched the primitive people of his lovely village grow old, have children, and die. Their children's children then had children who grew old, bore more children, and died as well. He would sign off the deed to the inn every so often and fake his own death just long enough for his immortality to be inconspicuous. Eventually, once the township had grown into a city, Paris took on a Phantom of the Opera type role, only he was the Phantom of the Friendly Fang. Everyone knew the inn had a "living" owner, but the deed stated that he had died of typhoid fever in 1938. Add that mystery to the long list of reasons The Friendly Fang was so popular. Again, only Paris's closest friends knew the secret to that mystery.

Paris, having lived in the village/city nearly all of his lengthy adult life, had watched the rise of Cross Academy. Word swiftly spread that the school was actually an experiment, executed by none other than renowned vampire hunter Cross Kaien. Supposedly, vampires and humans would both attend the academy. Their classes would be at opposite times of the day. There would be two prefects to monitor the transitions between the "day class" and the "night class." On the whole, it was a profound gesture of peace between vampires and humans.

And Paris wanted nothing to do with it. Something as socially concentrated as a _school_ could never, in any way, succeed in bridging the gap between monsters and mundanes. He knew this for a fact once he found out what kind of strings Cross had to pull in order make his experiment possible. The only reason the noble vampires agreed to let the young ones attend his idealistic Academy was because Kuran Kaname, notable Pureblood Prince, had agreed as well. _He_ was the reason Paris refused to get involved. He also had dreams of a peaceful relationship between vampires and humans, but that particular Pureblood was nothing but trouble.

His assumption proved correct sometime later. An all out war broke loose within Cross Academy, putting most of its human students in imminent danger, and drastically dividing the noble vampires. In the end, the Academy lost all of its night class members, and Cross's dream of a placid coexistence crumbled before his very eyes. He left the Academy open, but with its members almost halved Paris hardly saw the point. He expected the school to close completely in a couple of years, regardless.

Occasionally, a tall teen with a slender build and a slouched walk would show up at the Friendly Fang. His eyes were a rare shade of lilac that matched his even rarer silver mop of hair. The boy would always arrive very late in the evening – almost closing time – and order somewhere around sixteen bloody marys (and only pay for about half of them). Then he would leave for a month or so. He always came back a month later, and always ordered gratuitous rounds of bloody mary after bloody mary after bloody, bloody mary.

The reason was most obvious; what stood out most to Paris were the boy's Cross Academy _day class _uniform, and the fact that he was a vampire.

Tonight, the boy with pale purple eyes and moonlit hair quickly shoved his way through the weekend crowd to the oaken bar counter, probably drawn like a moth to a flame for umpteen bloody marys. Poor chap, drowning himself in alcohol like that. The perpetual frown that usually graced his handsome features was donned with extra ferocity tonight; something had obviously upset him.

Paris watched the student curiously from his private balcony above the common room. Down below, eager tourists' eyes hungrily scanned the landing for a glimpse of the "Friendly Fang's Phantom." Chuckling to himself, Paris decided to stay hidden for the moment. He would grant them their wish shortly; for now, he didn't want to take away the attention his audience was giving to the other performer on stage. Not only that, he didn't want the boy to notice him yet either.

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Zero was well aware of the many eyes that zoned in on him whilst he was making his way through the sea of people. A couple of times he'd even worn a hood, but that drew more sideways glances than even his off colorings, so he worked with his looks the best he could. His footsteps started to drag as he neared the bar top. He could feel his skin prickling, and if he wasn't careful his eyes would start to bleed…for the smells of the Friendly Fang never ceased to intoxicate him: sweat, alcohol, apple pie, chicken, ham, turkey, stuffing, oil, smoke, wood, and fresh linens. Heavenly, to be sure, but all of those paled in comparison to the overwhelming aroma of blood that clung to everything and everyone there.

He shook his head quickly to get rid of the thought of blood. It wasn't usually this strong, damnit! Of course, if he had to pick a night to literally rip someone apart, he would definitely pick tonight. After _that _fiasco, who wouldn't?

His old friends Yuki and Kaname Kuran decided to pay a visit to Cross Academy today, two years after they _decimated_ it with their little family reunion. When they arrived, Zero told the two lovebirds to piss off before he killed their asses – wouldn't even look them in the eyes. They took him seriously, got pissed off, and left almost as soon as they'd come, leaving his sap of a headmaster in a pool of tears and anguish. (The headmaster's dream had always been a peaceful union of vampires and humans. Zero knew better than to fill his head with such trash; he'd made a promise, after all, to hunt down and kill _every last _pureblooded vampire, including Yuki. What gall for them to show up expecting a warm welcome…)

But it wasn't the fact that they showed up. It wasn't even the fact that they were together at all. What riled Zero to his bones were the memories that seeing Yuki evoked, especially the last one – of the bite she'd given him as her vampire self. She'd cut her hair short again now. It hadn't helped.

So here he was trying to control a bloodlust he hadn't felt since nearly falling to Level E, shoving his way through the local bar to order the one and only thing that satisfied his thirst.

A broad grin suddenly flipped his frown around. He thought of what the humans ordering those awful drinks would think if they knew that the Friendly Fang used real blood in their bloody marys. It was that special ingredient that left his hunger so insatiable. It seemed like no matter how many he ordered, there were always five more he needed. (Usually he became plastered long before his blood thirst was quenched; puking your guts out is one sure fire way Zero had found to kill a blood buzz.)

A woman in traditional Renaissance peasant clothing glanced his way and barked, "What'll ye be havin' tonight, young sire?"

"Ten bloody marys," Zero replied, a small fraction of his grin still lingering at the corner of his mouth. The thought of throwing up bloody alcohol was highly amusing.

"Ten? That's a right smart amount 'o booze, ye know. Gonna be payin' fer all that up frunt?"

Zero slammed his palms down literally _into _the wooden bar top. "Sure," he whispered, voice deadly. "Ten. Bloody. Marys." His tone said that he wanted them now, whether he paid up front or not. His eyes flickered down momentarily to observe the splinters he'd sent flying from the counter, and his wicked grin broadened even wider. "On second thought, make that twenty."

A quiet hush had fallen all around Zero. Even in the midst of a Saturday night crowd, it was impossible to miss him. And he couldn't care less at the moment.

An image of him and Yuki during their first and only year together at Cross Academy flashed before his eyes. She was holding a despicable black case of blood tablets and grinning like a Cheshire cat that had just won the lottery (she'd stolen the tablets from Zero right after she'd knocked him flat on the ground). Another image of Yuki as a human flashed in front of him, this time wearing a gorgeous, baby pink dress for the school's only ball. Another image, then another, and another flashed before him in a mental slideshow, over and over a thousand times, always of Yuki _Cross_, not Yuki Kuran the Pureblood.

That's when everything around Zero died away and he focused all of his energy on the drinks that the frightened bartender was lining up in front of him, and the memory of his best friend and true love. He didn't hear the gasps of amazement as he chugged the first five mugs effortlessly. He didn't see the two men placing bets against whether or not he could drink them all. He didn't feel the other vampire's presence in the room as it subtly made itself known. All he knew was the delicious numb working its way through his veins, the aftertaste of blood, and the re-breaking of his heart all over.

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Paris decided to save the boy tonight. After all, he didn't seem like the type to covet attention. In fact Paris had seen him avoid such glances before, fervently (as far as wearing a cloak to the inn for a few months, though that plan backfired horribly). With his hands folded humbly in front of him, Paris stepped forward from the safety of his shadows into the light of the candle-lit chandelier, posing himself right in the center of his balcony for the entire inn to see.

And all it took was one gasp. "_Look, the Phantom!_"

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The girl watched in rapt delight as the old coon in the attic finally revealed himself. Of course she'd known he was there the entire time, though he'd kept himself hidden far better than the young whelp up front. That poor vamp didn't even _try _to mask his scent. He might as well have waltzed in with guns and eyes blazing. (Actually, he pretty much did just that. Huh.)

What a waste of her time; this stupid club didn't even have any music. Well, nothing _she _called music, anyway. There was a band around there somewhere playing a flute, a lute, a drum, and a dulcimer, but they were all so off key to her sensitive ears it was painful. For someone like her to find good music was a rare treat. She preferred techno because of its computerized sound; it was _never_ off key.

Unfortunately this place didn't seem likely to have a rave anytime soon, so she settled herself in for some good old-fashioned vampire hunting. A song sprung from her coral-colored lips:

"Eenie, meanie, miney, moe,

Catch a vampire by the toe;

If he hollers, kill him slow…"

She laughed melodically. If she couldn't have her music or her techno rave, she would have her treat one way or another. She continued to hum softly as she chose one misfit over the other.

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Zero's world spun before his eyes. The three bartender twins—no, wait… He blinked several times and his vision cleared somewhat. Ah, it was the bartender from before – the one dressed up as a tavern whore. She seemed to be gesturing angrily at Zero, and for the life of him he couldn't imagine why. Everyone was always mad at him for some reason or another. Maybe that was his problem, though. He tried to please everyone except himself, and in the process pleased no one. Stupid woman… Zero wished she'd stop pestering him. Couldn't she see he'd happily forgotten all about Yuki?

…Yuki…

Zero suddenly dropped his head down onto the bar top and covered it with his hands. At the thought of his former partner, Zero's stomach did several little flips, none of which settled well with the strong overdose of blood, tomato juice, and vodka. He felt bile rise into his throat and he fought back the urge to spill it right there in front of the bartender.

What Zero failed to notice was that the bartender was no longer paying him any mind. Her attention was now trained specifically on the other vampire in the room, the Phantom of The Friendly Fang.

"Good evening all," a soft, pleasant voice with just the _hint _of a French accent spoke out above the other voices of the mingling patrons. The common room was quickly falling into an amazed silence. "I welcome you to a night, or many nights, at my humble abode. I shall share with you food, drink, and good fortune – but most earnestly I wish you a well-rested sleep. I am an honest host, and a docile one at that, so please – eat and be merry! I shall share with you that happiness and rest with you when the clock has chimed its twelfth hour. So with that, I bid you fare well and good evening." The vampire then bowed his head and stepped back into the shadows.

And Zero would have missed every bit of this if it wasn't for an instinctual, gut feeling that something very _bad_ was about to happen. His head snapped up immediately when he sensed an immense, unfamiliar source of power at the threshold of The Friendly Fang. Again he bit back the nausea and dizziness that such a quick movement caused and pooled what little energy he had left into focusing. His effort failed miserably; all he got out of that was a migraine. As far as his addled brain could tell, this new power was certainly _not_ connected to the vampire who'd just given a speech. This was something utterly foreign.

With only minor hesitation due to his slowed reflexes, Zero reached into his jacket and put his hand tightly around Bloody Rose. He hoped for his own sake that his inability to register the nature of this new power was entirely due to the alcohol.

But that awful gut feeling kicked him again, hard. No… This wasn't a fluke of his own dulled senses; this was something _truly_ dangerous, something he probably wouldn't have recognized even if he'd been completely sober.

Zero started to panic. Not only was this unknown power source gradually weaving its way to his exact spot, it appeared as though the humans took no notice of it at all.

The tavern, the people, the band, all the tantalizing smells and the atmosphere – everything disappeared. Zero was left alone in his mind on what looked like a giant checkers board. Wait, not checkers – chess. He was playing a game of chess, and there were only three pieces left on the board. The vampire on the balcony was a black pawn on his side, but virtually useless to him now that it was so far out of reach. The great power now five feet in front of him was a white queen, charging towards the certain victory of checkmate. And he was the hapless black king who was too depressed or too stupid to watch his own back. He was stupid for throwing his other pieces (friends like Yuki and possibly even Kaname) away so carelessly. Now, totally at his assailant's mercy, he was about the pay the price.

Suddenly he felt too sick for his concentration to hang on any longer. Zero leaned over the wooden barstool he'd been perched upon for the past thirty minutes and retched half his weight in murky, blood-colored acid. But even as he sat hunched over – stomach curled into knots, throat burning – all the while he was still aiming Bloody Rose right into the crowd at the head of the invisible white queen.

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Paris knew that shortly after his performance several curious tourists would make their way up to the second floor to inspect the balcony area. Some of them always felt the need to satisfy any doubts that were surfacing regarding his authenticity as a phantom. Usually he had time to stick around and tug a ponytail or tickle an unsuspecting patron before heading home.

It seemed there would be no such amusement tonight. A strange aura had cloaked his beloved tavern with a strong sense of fear and foreboding. With the skill and practiced ease of someone who'd had centuries of training, Paris made himself become one with his shadow and silently started to slink unsuspected down the stairs, beneath the feet of patrons, ever closer towards the source of his discomfort. What he would soon find there he loathed to think about.

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_A/N: So there's the first chapter. I know there was quite a bit of OC work in there, but that's half the fun of writing anyway – getting to throw my own ideas into the series. Surely if you made it through to this author's note you can quickly tell me if you liked it or if you hated it…? Besides, my stories will not get updated because of sheer lack of motivation if no one reviews. Your opinions and comments are my lifeblood (pun intended)! But okay, I'll stop whoring for reviews now. ;) As always, thank you so much for reading!_

_Until next night…_

_~;~Shaku_


	2. Chapter Two

_**Warnings_: SPOILERS, **profanity, violence, **and possible **sexual situations**.

_**Summary_: Set after series end. One wild night at The Friendly Fang leaves Zero with a heavy hangover, and new assignment. (**Part ****One**) Zero x OC, maybe some Zero x Yuki later.

_**Note:_ This chapter was a bit too long, so I split it up into what should feel like two parts, but what are indeed two separate chapters. Please enjoy the story.

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*** . B L O O D **.. :.::** M O O N . ***

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_**Chapter Two:**_

Zero's vision wouldn't stop blurring. He could barely keep his head up long enough to sense from what direction the great power was coming, much less to fire a true shot, or fire _any_ shot for that matter. But he had to try…This power was unlike any he'd ever felt before – different, and stronger even than Shizuka, Rido, the so-called King Kaname…

Okay, so maybe sticking around to fight this unknown thing wasn't the best plan. But by the time Zero decided that it probably would have been far more affective to run away, he spotted _her_ – inhumanly tall; lean muscles (odd for a woman to have); a mane of red-brown curls that exploded from her head like a brilliant fireball; golden eyes that seemed to glow even under the bright lights of the tavern; thick, ebony combat boots; caramel colored skin; casual teenage clothing that somehow looked like it'd been put through a shredder; the ruddiest, rounded lips Zero had ever seen, like two shiny puckered cherries; and a smell so rancid, so disgusting, _so fowl_ that it actually made Zero lean over the bar stool and wretch again. It was a dry wretch; his stomach was already empty.

This woman put Zero's violet eyes and silver hair to shame – she stood out worse than a human in a storm of vampires. It wasn't just her looks, though. Zero managed to notice how the tourists in the tavern seemed to naturally shy away from her. It made for a nice, clear pathway for her to walk down, straight toward Zero. Quite obviously he was her target. Her golden eyes were trained right on him.

"Fine then," Zero growled, coughing a bit and wiping his mouth on the back of the sleeve of his school uniform. "Fine!" He closed his eyes, breathed, his hand still holding Bloody Rose in a white-knuckled grip. With one last swift glance at the mesmerizing harlot gliding towards him, Zero yelled and whipped his weapon out from his inside jacket pocket, silver chain flailing. Not half a second passed before Zero took aim and pulled the trigger of his anti-vampire weapon.

He failed to notice the brief look of surprise that passed across the girl's face, but that didn't matter. What did matter was that the purple explosion from Bloody Rose sent smoke, wood, glass, and debris flying everywhere in the enclosed space. Zero had suddenly (luckily) turned the people of the tavern into an enormous frightened _mob_. Guests and tourists alike started knocking over decorations, screaming and waving their arms, clamoring over one another just to reach an exit. Thankfully, the strange woman was swallowed up by the chaos, which was Zero's plan all along. He pretty much assumed that the anti-vampire weapon would be close to useless against her power, whatever bizarre power that may be.

The noise, however, did make Zero's head swim. Several times he felt himself get swept away by the mob, thrown about like a ship on the ocean. Three times he managed to shove himself back out of the crowd, but when he tripped and was trampled a fourth time he was knocked unconscious. _So much for a clean getaway_, was his last thought before the tavern blurred badly and the rushing people faded out. His mind went black.

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Paris made sure no one was looking (they weren't; they were all too entranced by the source of his discomfort) and made himself visible again just as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He'd altered his appearance slightly – an "older" look, like that of an aged human, so as not to detect the attention of any frequent taverners who might recognize him in his usual form. It seemed very unlikely that anyone would have noticed him either way, though, for they were all too interested in the scene that played out before him. Everything was happening much too quickly for him to even do some damage control!

He watched a young, eloquently tall, red-haired woman make her way down the center of the tavern, walking purposefully in a straight diagonal towards none other than the other (quite wasted) silver-headed vampire. Paris caught a glimpse of her expression – a wicked grin, eyes bright with a deadly playfulness – and his breath caught. She meant to cause a scene in his tavern, and he could not allow that. No, not any more than had already happened tonight. He could not allow ––

But before Paris could take one step towards the woman, the young vampire pulled a weapon from the inside of his coat and fired it right into the face of the fiery newcomer. The blast from such a weapon caused a light explosion to occur, and as such, the explosion caused the people of his tavern to go into a state of mass hysteria.

Paris himself was almost just as panicked; nothing like this had _ever_ happened to him before, so he was quite unsure of what to do, exactly. The Friendly Fang was just as its namesake implied – a _friendly_ place for good-natured humans on vacation to visit, drink, eat, sleep, and be merry. _Not_ get attacked by terrorists, or vampires, or both!

While trying to stop his shaking, Paris spotted the red-headed woman amongst the frightened humans. She was unharmed and wild-eyed now – avidly searching throughout the mob for none other than the lavender-eyed _fool_ who may have just put him out of business. In desperation to keep the two creatures from further destroying his life's work, Paris also began searching for the young vampire. He was in no condition to do anything at the moment – fight, flirt, _or_ drink – so he had to be removed from the hysteria, and Paris had a feeling that the woman meant to hurt or kill him. He could _not_ allow that; not in _his_ Friendly Fang!

So he scanned the crowd for the silver-haired vampire. Paris was sure he would stick out like a sore thumb, and he did – for all of two seconds before he was knocked down again, somewhere relatively close to the exit. For a Pureblood of his prowess, a task so menial should have been laughably easy for him to accomplish… Paris melded with the shadows, knowing that no one would notice him, and swiftly moved to the place he thought he'd seen the vampire fall.

He was correct – he saw the young man lying next to another fallen man, both unconscious, and both still getting trampled by the hundreds of people trying to get away from the potential danger. Paris made himself appear again, this time in his usual younger-looking form. With the strength of a pureblood he easily picked up the two males and hauled them outside. He left the human lying up against the outside of the tavern where he wouldn't get trampled. The vampire…Paris thought for a second that he would like to find out more about this young fellow who drew so much attention to himself, but not tonight. Tonight Paris decided that the best thing to do was to take him home, where Headmaster Cross could deal with him.

The French Pureblood took one last look at his mostly empty tavern and shook his head. In the morning his staff would have everything in tip top shape again, but the incident would no doubt make the headlines on the morning paper. Paris was more worried about the damage to The Friendly Fang's reputation than the actual physical damage his purple-eyed friend had caused.

He sighed. It could wait, at least for a little while.

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Zero dreamt he was dead.

He'd been killed by the red-haired demon from the tavern, and his undead soul had been dragged down to Hell in her evil, smelly hands. Once in Hell, she put Zero through a thousand visual tortures – things that probably would never happen in real life, but in the dream they felt more real than real. He was forced to kill all of Yuki's human friends that went to Cross Academy by ripping their throats out with his fangs. To get him to do this, the red-haired woman would make him watch how Kaname had resurrected Yuki's vampire self – which in Zero's mind was by making love to her – over and over and over again until he begged for it to end, and that he would kill Yuki herself if she just stopped the images.

So one by one he drank and tore at the throats of Yuki's friends – his friends, in a sense. In real life, he'd started talking to them more now that she was gone. But here he killed them all, watched them as they twitched and slowly died on the fiery ground, their life blood pooling around them. When the shock seemed to wear off, the evil demon woman would make Zero watch Kaname change Yuki again, she would make him see her enjoy the pain, the change, the sex, the death of the human girl that Zero loved more than life itself. He cried tears of blood that mixed with the river of blood he was already swimming in, drowning in. He screamed out her name, begged for Yuki Cross to come back to him, to make everything all right like it should have been all along.

But of course his cries never reached farther than the ears of the devil woman – the _bitch_ that had wrecked his world, interrupted his fond memories of Yuki with these horrible made up _lies_, who––

"Zero…?"

A distant voice made the image of the auburn haired woman start to fade. His dead friends and the blood and Hell and everything around him began to disappear.

"Zero, are you going to be all right?"

The voice became clearer. Zero saw that his Hell had become nothing but black. He could almost even open his eyes if he just…

Like magic his dorm room at Cross Academy appeared before him. No… Not his dorm, but definitely a room at the Academy. He was in the nurse's ward. He was shirtless, half buried in some white pillows and tangled in sweaty bed sheets, and the room itself was much too bright. However it was a relief to see a familiar place, and even a familiar face. Zero saw that the voice he'd heard belonged to Headmaster Cross Kaien, who was sitting on a chair next to the bed Zero was in.

"There you are…! I thought you were going to sleep for weeks with a concussion like that!" Cross exclaimed. "The school nurse said none of the medication seemed to be affecting you, which of course I already knew because of you being a vampire and all, but she was almost in hysterics, at a loss of what to do with you. I told her to let me handle you for a while, see what I could do. You've been moaning and restless in your sleep for the past hour or two."

"Ungh…" Zero rubbed his head, which was throbbing and pounding so hard he felt dizzy.

"Oh, here – take these," Cross said, handing Zero four white tablets.

"But these are blood tablets—"

"I know. But, ah, they'll help with…with your hangover, I think."

Zero haphazardly motioned for the glass of water on the bedside table. He quickly downed the pills once Cross had handed it to him. Instantly he felt ten times sicker, but the headmaster didn't seem to notice. "See! You look better already. I'll leave you to your rest now…"

Cross stood up and was about to leave the room when Zero stopped him with a curt, "Cross."

"Yes, Zero-kun?"

"What time is it?"

"It's three in the morning. When you wake it will be Monday, and you'll have classes to attend. You should rest."

"But how did I end up here? I don't…remember much of last night." There was no use trying to hide the fact that he'd been drinking heavily or that he'd also obviously been off school grounds, both of which were against the rules for any student, much less a prefect like Zero. The headmaster already knew.

Cross paused for a minute. He looked as if he'd been about to say something, and then changed his mind. Instead he said, "Get your rest Zero."

Zero grumbled incessantly, but not about feeling sick or the fact that Cross always seemed to know something more than what he ever said. The matter this time was that he just hated being Cross's guinea pig. Why the hell did he have to stay in Cross Academy when all the other vampire floozies got to leave and do whatever the hell they wanted? It's not like having the presence of one pathetic lower level vampire in what was now an exclusive all-human academy would revive the headmaster's dream of a peaceful world between the two. That was just silly.

But Zero knew the real reason why he couldn't just leave Cross Academy like the others. It was because unlike them, this school was all he had now – maybe all he _ever_ had. Yuki was gone, and Cross was insufferable at best. At least being a prefect was something he liked, something he was good at. At least he was accepted and even revered for his academic prowess here in this school. Who knew? Maybe he could graduate with top marks and become a professor or something.

One thing was for certain: he would never be accepted in the vampire world. Among humans he was treated as an equal, not an inferior. Ironic how truly unequal they really were…

Which reminded Zero of another thing he was very good at: vampire hunting…

Zero repositioned himself so that he was a bit more comfortable and directed his thoughts elsewhere. (Imagining Kaname's head on a bloody spike was most definitely comforting, but detrimental to the situation at hand.) No really – how the _hell_ had he managed to get back to the Academy? He definitely remembered the woman with the brownish-red curls and freaky glowing eyes. He faintly remembered that he'd pulled Bloody Rose on her and fired a shot. But after that everything got very fuzzy and Zero just could not remember anymore.

He was exhausted. The new comfortable position he'd adopted seemed to remind him of just how good it felt to sleep after a hangover. That, and the blood tablets were taking affect. He readjusted his drowsy head on the pillow one last time before he fell fast asleep, thankfully dreamless this time.

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When Zero woke up again, he heard a voice talking like the last time – the same voice, even. But this time there was another voice talking to Cross Kaien that Zero did _not_ recognize. In order to be discreet, Zero did not bring his head up. He kept his eyes closed and focused on what they were saying.

"But you're positive the damage was so minimal? I promise you, if it was truly my student's fault that your property was damaged, I will help secure funds for the repairs."

"You are very generous, Headmaster Cross, but it is not funds that I require. The damage was quite minimal – nothing a little sweeping and a couple of extra floor boards can't fix. I would, however, like to speak to the student in question. Is he available?"

"No, he's sleeping."

"Ah. Another time then?"

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, why do you want to speak with him? If the damage is compensated and his punishment by my hand is satisfactory, then what other reason…?"

"As you may or may not already know, Headmaster, this is not the first time that this young man has come to my bar."

"I realize that, but—"

"_And_, as you most certainly may not know, there is a certain type of drink he favors over all the rest."

"Yes, actually I _have_ heard of this so called-drink, but surely—"

"Headmaster, I'm positive you do not want to cause any discord between Cross Academy and the lovely town below its walls."

"What are you suggesting, man?" Zero heard the slightly too-long pause before the word 'man.' He could also sense that the 'man' Cross was talking to was most certainly not a man at all – he was a vampire.

"I just want to speak with him Headmaster. I mean him no harm, and I do not wish to kick him out of my bar for any reason. But…"(and here the vampire dropped his voice to a barely audible whisper)"I know what he is, Cross. I know why he craves that particular drink in my tavern, and I know why you don't wish for us to even be within ten feet of one another. But I am only trying to preserve the peace that this town once had, before your _Academy_ destroyed it. Now these mishaps are literally knocking on my doorstep—"

"You go too far. This Academy has been, and always will be, a safe place for its students and a wonderful addition to this town. How _dare_ you tell me otherwise – _you_, of all…people." Again, that slight hesitation as Cross searched for the right word.

"Either way, headmaster, your school gets a lot of good rep from word of mouth in The Friendly Fang. I'd hate for next year's student census to be half of what it was this year…"

Cross's voice dropped to a whisper now. "Are you threatening my students?"

"No, Headmaster Cross, I would never do such a thing. I'm just saying how horrible that would be, to happen to such a flourishing school – and all because a stingy, overly worrisome man wouldn't let a…friend speak to one of his students for half an hour."

"Half an hour." Cross said pointedly. "That's all the time you need with him?"

"It is most certainly a small and harmless thing to ask, headmaster, and I hate that it's taken you so long to see that."

"Very well. Come back later this morning, when he's awake. I have no doubt that he will be."

Zero's steady breathing froze. The tone in Cross's voice said that he could already tell that Zero was awake now, and that meant the other vampire surely knew as well. But that didn't really matter, did it? Cross had told him to come back later for a meeting anyway. Who the hell was this guy?

"I look forward to our meeting, Zero Kiryuu," the vampire said softly. He had a weak voice, the kind that didn't usually start arguments or make threats. But he _had_ just threatened Cross's school…

Zero heard the door to the infirmary close quietly and wondered why the headmaster did not seem to get along with this vampire. He heard Cross sigh and make his way over to the chair he'd occupied earlier. The silence of the infirmary weighed down on him like a heavy rainstorm. It was slightly unnerving, depressing even. Zero let his mind wander…

_What in the _world_ had happened last night?_

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_A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review. _:)

_Until next night...  
~;~Shaku  
_


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